It is often desirable to transport troops, non-military personnel, and equipment across hostile territory via motorized land vehicles such as tactical vehicles, tactical trucks, and similar vehicles. Such vehicles may sustain land mine strikes, or attacks from improvised explosive devices (“IED's”), such as roadside bombs. During transport, people occupying the passenger cabin or cab of the vehicle are susceptible to injury from land mines, IED's, and other bombs and explosives. To withstand the forces of the foregoing types of attacks and explosions and to enhance the survivability of the occupants of the vehicle, it is known to armor the cab of the vehicle with armor plating.
The “light tactical vehicle” category of military vehicles is typically used to describe a tactical vehicle that weighs on the order of around 26,000 pounds or less. Examples of light tactical vehicles are the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (“JLTV”) and the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle Modernized Expanded Capacity Vehicle (“HMMWV MECV”). For this weight category of military vehicle, one of the primary causes of injury to the vehicle occupants, particularly to the feet and legs of the occupants, is excessive upward floor velocity caused by an IED exploding beneath the vehicle and violently moving the vehicle upwardly. For example, an IED of the type encountered on today's battle field can generate an upward floor velocity of greater than 30 meters/second in a light tactical vehicle. Thus, even if the bottom of the vehicle is sufficiently armored such that the blast does not compromise the bottom of the vehicle, the vehicle occupants can still be injured due to the displacement and resulting velocity and acceleration of the floor.
A prior solution to armoring the bottom of a light tactical vehicle such as the JLTV is disclosed in the assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 8,096,225 (“'225 patent”) issued Jan. 17, 2012 and hereby incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth in its entirety. In the '225 patent, the bottom wall of the vehicle comprises a generally centrally disposed downwardly facing smooth concave wall portion that forms a power train tunnel of the cab, and a pair of opposite laterally disposed wall portions each of which extends downwardly and laterally inwardly and terminates in a lowermost portion of the bottom wall on either lateral side of the concave wall portion. The concave wall portion and opposite laterally disposed wall portions are configured to present a substantially reduced surface area of the lowermost portions of the bottom wall in a downwardly facing direction.
It is desirable to improve upon the armored cab of the '225 patent. It is also desirable to provide an armored cab for a light tactical vehicle, whether it be the JLTV, the HMMWV MECV, or other light tactical vehicle, that is not only armored but that also includes features or mechanisms that reduce upward floor velocity caused by an IED exploding beneath the vehicle.